Apps in this Guide

Alto’s Adventure

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Crossy Road

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Leo's Fortune

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Monument Valley

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It's enough to glide down the slope and enjoy the scenery and soundtrack of the endearing Alto's Adventure. But the enchanting endless runner for Android and iOS offers 60 levels of challenges thatmore

It's enough to glide down the slope and enjoy the scenery and soundtrack of the endearing Alto's Adventure. But the enchanting endless runner for Android and iOS offers 60 levels of challenges that include acrobatic flips, grumpy elders, and wayward llamas that you can attempt to complete if you want to boost the excitement level of this tranquil platform game.

The free-to-play game is pleasingly enchanting. You play in sunlight and under night skies, through rainstorms and meteor showers. Along with the minimalist soundtrack, the game includes the ambient sounds of bells, birds, and llamas to offer a pleasant tension between the lovely scenery and the thrill of snowboarding and create one of the best endless runner games for Android and iPhone.

If you're working to complete all the levels of Alto's Adventure, read on for our tips, tricks, and advice on how to complete backflips and play to the end of this irresistible platform game.

How many levels does Alto's Adventure have?

The game has 60 levels, and to level up, you need to complete three goals. The goals start easy -- land a backflip or catch five llamas. But by the end, they get much more challenging, such as escaping from six elders in one run.

Who are the characters you can unlock?

When you start, you play as the llama-herding snowboarder, Alto. But as you level up, you unlock five more characters, each with different snowboarding strengths and weaknesses. At level 11, you unlock Maya, who excels at backflips. At level 21, you gain access to Paz, who's a bit muscle-bound and uses his size to his advantage. At level 31, you get Izil. She seems to be the supplier of the gadgets in the workshop. At level 41, you unlock Filipe, a llama that wears one of Alto's scarves and skillfully rides his snowboard. Finally, after you complete level 50, you unlock Tupa, who combines skills learned from the other snowboarders.

Other characters you encounter but can't play as include Alto's runaway llamas and snoozing elders, who chase you after you wake them.

How do you earn points?

As you board down the hill, you can pull off tricks and maneuvers to earn points. Landing a backflip is worth 10 points. A double backflip earns you 60 points. Nailing a triple backflip scores 200. Landing a proximity backflip gets you 300, which is probably enough to cover the hospital costs for all the times you ate it. Bouncing off a rock or campfire will get you points, but time your jumps so you don't crash into them instead. The big point-earner is grinding. Grinding on a bunting line or on a roof earns you 10 points per meter. If you grind for 60 meters, you can earn a 300-point bonus.

You get 50 points for successfully jumping across a chasm. If you chain tricks together in a single jump you can earn additional bonus points. Skiing on a patch of ice earns you 50 points. Waking an elder scores 200, and escaping an elder by crossing a chasm gets you 800. And if you survive to see a sunrise, you get 1,000 points.

What can you buy in Izil's Workshop?

In the workshop, you can buy gadgets apparently created by the snowboarder Izil. To start, if you tire of reviving your character by watching ads, you can pay $4.99 to go ad-free. You can also purchase the Coin Doubler to increase your coin-collection skills for $3.99. But for everything else in the shop, you use the coins you collect as you snowboard.

Among the items for sale are a wooden helmet that protects you from a crash, a pickaxe that lets you survive a chasm fall, and tools that can help you fly and hover, call llamas to you, and assist with acquiring nearby coins.

How do I do a backflip, grind, proximity backflip, triple backflip, or other snowboarding aerials or maneuvers in Alto's Adventure?

While your interactions with the game are simple -- tap and press to dodge obstacles, soar across chasms, and perform acrobatic flips -- how and where you perform your jumps can result in different maneuvers and earn different points.

To start, attempt a single backflip off a roof, rail, ramp; from the top of a steep incline; or even across a chasm that appears in the first 1,000 or so meters of a run. For a double or triple backflip, wait for one of the longer steep inclines that frequently show up between 1,000 and 2,000 meters. Jump on a roof or bunting line to grind. At the end of a roof or line is perfect for chaining a grind with a backflip to earn extra points. To complete a proximity flip, your head needs to pass within eight meters of the ground. It is worth practicing this move because you get 300 points for landing it and you need to stick one to complete a goal in the mid-30 levels.

The game comes with a Zen Mode that lets you play through without distractions -- when you crash, tap the screen and start where you fell -- so it's useful for practicing tricks without having to start at the beginning when you fail.

When does the sequel Alto Odyssey come out?

Alto's Odyssey, the sequel to Alto's Adventure moves the game's setting from the mountains to the desert and was originally slated to arrive in the summer of 2017 but released instead early in 2018 for iPhone, with an Android version in the works.

Download and Play Alto’s Adventure and a Few Other of the Best Side Scrollers for Android and iOS

Leo's Fortune

For something with more of a narrative -- an engaging soundtrack, scenery, and storyline -- try the $4.99 Leo's Fortune and move over platforms, solve puzzles, and avoid obstacles to help Leopold the Golden recover his treasure.

Monument Valley

Guide Princess Ida through mazes and over platforms in this charming and attractive puzzle game. Monument Valley ($3.99) comes with an in-app purchase to unlock additional chapters. If you want more, its sequel, Monument Valley 2, is $4.99.

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Clifford Colby follows the Mac and Android markets for Download.com. He's been an editor at Peachpit Press and a handful of now-dead computer magazines, including MacWeek, MacUser, and Corporate Computing.